[help] Identifying a piece of furniture, part 2
Thank you very much to everyone who made comments and suggestions on yesterday's post about the curio cabinet belonging to calendula_witch's family [ jlake.com | LiveJournal ].
As a followup, calendula_witch's mother has provided more detail and additional photos.
This cabinet has been in our family since at least 1940. It came with a 2nd husband (aged about 50 at that time)of my grandmother. He had inherited it from his wealthy New England family. They originally came to this country from Germany, and his father became a naturalized US citizen in 1885.
The decorations are painted, not inlay or decal. The design on the top includes a lyre on top of a scroll of sheet music. It seems mostly solid wood, except for the top surface, which is veneer. The gold accents are metal, tack-nailed on. There is no label or mark we can find. There are 2 metal keys. The shelves are thick glass, with a mirror on the back inside wall. There is no light in the cabinet.
The curved glass has no distortion. The solid pieces of wood are butted, and probably joined with dowels that can't be seen.
A while back I found something similar on eBay that was French from about 1850, so this may be the same or a later reproduction. It would be nice to know. It is about 4'8" tall. Also, there are some screws on the bottom, holding things together, but the curved wooden pieces are solid. My husband thinks the wood might be ash.
Also, it was mentioned elsewhere that the wiring visible in some of the photos is incidental to a lamp. The cabinet itself is not wired for electricity.
And the photos...
Photos © 2010 K. Salonen, reproduced with permission.
As a followup, calendula_witch's mother has provided more detail and additional photos.
This cabinet has been in our family since at least 1940. It came with a 2nd husband (aged about 50 at that time)of my grandmother. He had inherited it from his wealthy New England family. They originally came to this country from Germany, and his father became a naturalized US citizen in 1885.
The decorations are painted, not inlay or decal. The design on the top includes a lyre on top of a scroll of sheet music. It seems mostly solid wood, except for the top surface, which is veneer. The gold accents are metal, tack-nailed on. There is no label or mark we can find. There are 2 metal keys. The shelves are thick glass, with a mirror on the back inside wall. There is no light in the cabinet.
The curved glass has no distortion. The solid pieces of wood are butted, and probably joined with dowels that can't be seen.
A while back I found something similar on eBay that was French from about 1850, so this may be the same or a later reproduction. It would be nice to know. It is about 4'8" tall. Also, there are some screws on the bottom, holding things together, but the curved wooden pieces are solid. My husband thinks the wood might be ash.
Also, it was mentioned elsewhere that the wiring visible in some of the photos is incidental to a lamp. The cabinet itself is not wired for electricity.
And the photos...
Photos © 2010 K. Salonen, reproduced with permission.